Folk figure. Husband of the legendary Frankie Silver, who died on the gallows for his grisly murder, Charlie was 19 years old at the time of his death. The young Appalachian mountaineer was the only son of Jacob and Elizabeth Wilson Silver, and his marriage at age 17 to Frankie Stewart, the pretty 14-year-old daughter of the Silvers' neighbors, had begun happily. A year later the couple became the parents of a baby daughter, Nancy. According to eyewitnesses, however, Charlie developed problems with alcohol, and was seen abusing his young wife on several occasions. Shortly before Christmas 1831 she reported him missing, but parts of his dismembered body were eventually discovered in and around their cabin. She later confessed that she had hit Charlie with an ax after he'd come home drunk and had threatened to shoot her and their crying toddler. Frankie's mother and brother allegedly helped her to dispose of the body, but only she was tried and convicted of murder. Since the bodyparts were recovered at various times, Charlie's remains were subsequently interred beneath 3 different markers in his family's burial ground. (bio by: Nikita Barlow)